Temne - History and Cultural Relations

There is no archaeological record for the present-day Temne area that
covers the precontact era. Oral traditions, however, are fairly
consistent in citing a Temne migration from the northeast, from the
Fouta Djallon plateau area in the Republic of Guinea. Subsequent
movements of small groups criss-crossed the Temne area in all
directions.

There were Temne speakers along the coast when the first Portuguese
ships arrived, probably in the 1460s. Temne were indicated on subsequent
Portuguese maps, and references to them and brief vocabularies appear in
the texts. Trade began, albeit on a small scale, in the fifteenth
century with the Portuguese and expanded in the late sixteenth century
with the arrival of British traders, and later traders of other nations.
Slaves, gold, ivory and local foodstuffs were exchanged for European
trade goods—mostly cloth, firearms, and hardware.

As Temne traders were in contact with the permanent European factories
in the river mouths, so did they establish and maintain relations with
the settlement at Freetown after its founding in the late eighteenth
century. This settlement, inspired by philanthropic abolitionists, was
regarded ambivalently by Temne traders, who had long been involved in
the profitable export slave trade. In the nineteenth century, following
abolition, Freetown became the primate trade entrepot, attracting trade
caravans from Temne and beyond. Creoles from Freetown moved
progressively up-county to trade in the second half of the nineteenth
century, and relations with the Temne and other were not always
amicable. The British colonial government at Freetown followed a policy
of "stipendiary bribery" punctuated by threats to use
armed force in an attempt to prevent Temne and other chiefs from
hindering trade from and with areas farther inland. When diplomacy
failed, British expeditions invaded the Temne area of Yoni (1889) and
then at Tambi (1891).

The Protectorate of Sierra Leone was proclaimed in 1896, and,
subsequently, a colonial overadministration was instituted. The
traditional Temne chiefdoms became units of local government, and a
house tax was levied to support the colonial administration. Armed
rebellion broke out in 1898, first in Mende country and later in the
western Temne area, where a Temne chief, Bai Bureh, led successful
campaigns and became a folk hero. The colonial era began again after
1898, with a more effective administration and increased penetration of
the hinterland. Railway construction and, later, feeder roads were
pushed in an effort to increase exports. Towns developed to meet the
needs of government and increased trade, and expatriate firms and
Lebanese and Creole traders expanded their activities throughout Temne
and adjacent areas. Schools developed slowly under Christian missions
and, later, under government aegis. For the Temne, culture change
accelerated.

Portuguese Christian missionary efforts began before the Protestant
Reformation but had no lasting effects on the Temne. The Protestant
presence accompanied the founding of Freetown in the late eighteenth
century; Church Missionary Society representatives were active up the
Rokel River and elsewhere in Temne country through the nineteenth
century. In the 1890s the Soudna Mission was the first American mission
in the Temne area; American Wesleyans and the Evangelical United
Brethren subsequently joined the field.

Muslim contacts probably go back several centuries, and
fifteenth-century Portuguese were cognizant of Muslim peoples. Early
traders, holy men, and warriors brought Islam into the Temne area from
the north (Susu) and northeast (Fula, Mandinka, and so on). Through the
nineteenth century, as the volume of trade grew, Muslim influences
increased; in the late twentieth century a significant proportion of
Temne claim to be Muslim converts.